Bushwick Blu ray Review

Bushwick the alternative reality, war for peace film set in a upmarket part of New York. Taking the concept of an invasion on American soil by perpetrators unknown and remorseless. It has enough energy for its ideas but lacks that slight detail to finish it off. However it seems to me that this is a very timely conversation and one that is ripping at the heart of America. It is also at the very front of Bushwick. Making it a must view.

An invasion on American soil rushes into the life of Lucy (Snow) and with the death of her partner, makes her a stranger in a strange land. She finds Stupe (Bautista), who rescues her from a fate of rape and death. His strength might bring her survival or bring her to more chaos and death. The problem is, they have to cross New York with all out war. They have to do this in order to find safety and the security of the US forces.

Bushwick exposes the problems at the heart of almost all of the current issues in the US today. The urban reality that is misunderstood by the many on the right. The brewing rural hostility that is almost universally destructive and the absence of a conversation between the two. We have two sides with equally faceless beings and two people witnessing the fury of a mob. Bushwick moves at a steady pace, playing on a Hitchcock Rope type process of hiding the cuts. It has audio menace that pulse and keep this pace tense and present. Snow and Bautista are thrown around, blown up, shot, stabbed with glass and then still stand up to the chaos and confusion of a warzone. Both are able (physically and emotionally) to take this but for all its worthy parts Bushwick falls on one point.

The shapes that become fleshed out in terms of concept here are not well defined or particularly revealing. The idea of succession and a military response has a level of realism behind it but it is handled here like a video game. Content is dragged and themes are walked over again and again. As a film that would have been 60 minutes, it would have been excellent. When it clocks in at 90, you feel less committed and more anger at the repeated ignorance of those involved. However this said, the film is a worthwhile watch. It is well executed and proves that a well built, directed and written piece could have given us something to ponder….